Hinton-born player heads for Grey Cup

J’Michael Deane, offensive lineman with the Calgary Stampeders, was born in Hinton in 1986. He attended Gerard Redmond Community Catholic School before his parents separated and he moved with his mother to southern Ontario where he started playing football at Newtonbrook Secondary School in North York. J’Michael’s father Art Deane, who now lives in Calgary, recalled that his son was a physically imposing presence long before he ever stepped foot into the line of scrimmage.

“They had a crawling race between a number of babies in the day care that was down in the rec centre,” Art said. “The Parklander did a story on him back then, where he was quite big amongst the rest of the babies. His leap, his stride in a crawl was quite large. He was way out front of the rest of the kids. Back then we knew he had some sort of athletic ability.”

That big baby is now a 6-foot-5, 312-pound man, the biggest player on the Stampeders’ roster.

While playing at Newtonbrook Secondary School, J’Michael was scouted by the Metro Toronto Wildcats to play in the Ontario Minor Football League. He was the number one defensive lineman in the league, Art said, and he was eventually drafted by the Michigan State Spartans to play on the offensive line.

Michigan State won the conference title in 2010 and J’Michael was being scouted by the Oakland Raiders, Art said; but when the NFL lockout struck in 2011, the Hinton-born player had to decide whether to exercise his option for Canadian eligibility with an offer from the Calgary Stampeders.

“He decided to act on it, and the rest is history,” Art said, adding that J’Michael chose the certainty of a career in the CFL over the uncertainty of the NFL.

Art has been a Stampeders fan now for about 15 years and said he’ll be cheering for his son, and his team, in the Grey Cup with J’Michael’s brother and sister in Calgary. J’Michael’s mother, uncles, aunts and cousins will be at Rogers Centre in Toronto to give their family support.

Art said J’Michael still keeps in touch with friends from Hinton, who have gone down to Calgary occasionally to watch him play.